Connect and Run Code from Further - 'Further Link'

How to connect to your pi-top[4] from Further for running code using Further Link and troubleshooting connection issues

Quick Start Guide

Connect to Further

Deploying code to your pi-top [4]

  1. Ensure you are connected your pi-top via a shared WiFi or cable. The Connection Help page can help you verify and fix your connection.
  2. Open any challenge on Further.
  3. Click the pi-top icon from the bubbles floating at the side of the page.
  4. Find your device's IP Address from the Miniscreen menu and enter it into the input in the connection box.
  5. Click 'Connect' and you're set! Runnable Python code on the page will have the Run button enabled.

You can find the IP address on the first page of the pi-top's built-in OLED Miniscreen menu. If you have multiple connections to the pi-top you can scroll through the Network section of the menu to see alternative IP address.

It's always a set of 4 numbers separated by dots e.g.:
192.168.1.65
172.10.3.5

And it's that simple!

Make sure your pi-top is up to date before deploying code from Further.
When you connect, Further will remind you if you haven't

Troubleshooting

You may encounter a screen such as the one below when trying to connect to your device.

Try the troubleshooting steps below. If you're still having trouble, then get in touch with us at support@pi-top.com.

Is Further Link enabled?

The system for connecting your to your pi-top from Further is called Further Link.

If Further Link is installed already, you should see a page for it in the Miniscreen, by going to the Settings page in the Menu. Further Link will have to be enabled to run code. To enable it use ‘▲' or ‘▼' to scroll down to the 'Settings', press 'O' to enter, scroll to the Further Link page, and press 'O’ to toggle it, then 'X’ twice to return to the top. If you can't find Further Link but you can see SSH  and VNC, then it's likely it's not been installed on your pi-top [4]. Once you update your OS and reboot, it should appear on the OLED Display, or see advanced troubleshooting below.

 

Can you connect to the pi-top and the Further Link status pages?

First confirm that you can open the pi-top's Web Portal by typing it's IP address into your browser address bar, which should bring up a page for managing your pi-top.

If you can't open the pi-top Web Portal, ensure you are connected and up to date.

If you can see the Web Portal you should next check if you can see the further link status message. Copy and paste the URL below into your browser, replacing the numbers with the IP Address of your pi-top, using dashes instead of dots.

https://192-168-1-1.further-link.pi-top.com:8028/status

If your connection works then you'll see the screen above with a simple message OK. Otherwise, you'll get a browser error screen similar to this.

I still can't connect to Further Link

DNS Issue

If you can see the pi-top Web Portal but the Further Link status page has an error the issue may be with your DNS settings (particularly if the browser error is ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED or similar). To fix this you can set up Cloudflare DNS on the computer you are connecting from. The instructions for which can be found on the Cloudflare website here, with a brief intro into what it is.

1.1.1.1-fancycolor

There's an individual fix for Windows, macOS and Linux.

If you are connecting from the pi-top [4] itself rather than another computer, you may still require this fix but there is an easier way to apply it. On your pi-top Miniscreen go into the 'Settings' menu, scroll down to 'Cloudflare DNS' and press 'O' to activate it.

Try this link - https://1.1.1.1/help - to see if it's been configured correctly

Network Firewall Issue

If you can't see the pi-top Web Portal or the Further Link status page then your connection to the pi-top may be being blocked by your network's firewall settings. Check our network firewall config documentation for a list of network traffic that is required by pi-top to function. You may need your local network administrator to configure these settings for you.

Advanced troubleshooting / Not using pi-topOS?

  1. Is the service actually installed?  To do that, run the command
    sudo apt install -y further-link

    This will attempt to install Further link manually. If it's already installed, it will say so, if not, it will install it.

  2. Check that further-link service is running
    sudo systemctl is-active further-link.service

    If the service is active, check the IP address is correct.  If you still can't connect, please contact support@pi-top.com

  3. If the service is NOT active (from 2 above), please run:

    sudo systemctl start further-link.service

    sudo systemctl enable further-link.service

    then reboot and try again.  If you still can't connect please contact support@pi-top.com